“It’s okay,” Sam said, swallowing hard and nodding. “We have people waiting for us too.”

Katherine turned to us without saying a word. In her eyes was a silent farewell. She wiped her eyes and reached into her pocket, and in the next moment, she threw me the keys to the store.

“If you ever need to come back,” Katherine sniffled, and I thought that I never wanted to set foot in that place again. “Goodbye! Good luck!”

Carlos, still holding Katherine close, led her across the street.

Suddenly, a shiver of thunder rolled through the air; it felt as if the sky above us shook. I flinched and grabbed Sam’s hoodie, and we unsteadily moved away. He supported me, whispering something, while I could barely move my feet. Step by step, each one more painful than the last.

Dark. Chilly. Quiet. Everything around was anthracite-gray, smoking, lifeless. The world seemed to absorb the soft sounds of our footsteps, echoing in the emptiness. And the bodies. Blood and bodies.

In all my life, I had never seen anything like this.

After what felt like an agonizingly long few minutes, Sam suddenly froze. His eyes widened, he squeezed my hand so hard it hurt, and he muttered frantically:

“Steph, look!”

I turned around in fear, expecting to see something that could kill us, tear us apart, but instead, I saw a glimmer of a better outcome, ahope – faint, ephemeral, but hope that allowed me to believe that we could escape this hell. Hope that we would live.

A group of soldiers was heading our way; there were about eight of them, and one person was being carried in their arms.

“Hey!” I suddenly shouted, jumping up and waving my arms. The certainty that the soldiers would help us quickly clouded my mind – who better to know about all this shit than them?!

“Be quiet!” Sam snapped. “They already saw us! Don’t draw any more attention!”

“Sam, it's a miracle, Sam!” I whispered wildly, reaching out with cold fingers to grab his hoodie. “They’re going to get us out! We’ll go home…”

Dort gave me a doubtful look, making an effort to feign resignation. I didn’t notice the despair that flashed across his face; I probably didn’t want to… I just wanted the confusion and fear to clear from my mind. I wished to leave the city, shake off the stench, stop seeing the triumph of chaos and death. Let the nightmare end and fade away – whether not in a day or a month, but someday, erased from my memory.

That fleeting glimmer of hope helped me find my strength. The exhaustion passed, and for a moment, I felt as if I could move mountains, as long as someone explained what was happening.

But hope is deceptive.

Forgetting fear and danger, I pulled Sam forward, walking as fast as I could. My legs, feeling as heavy as lead, could barely carry me. But I didn’t care; I needed to reach the soldiers, to get answers to at least some of my questions.

“What’s going on?” Sam asked nervously and loudly before we had even caught up to the soldiers, and the street echoed his question, carried by a gust of wind; I snapped to awareness and glanced worriedly at Dort. He had never liked people in uniform, despised anything related to weapons and violence. How desperate must he be to be the first to start a conversation…

The man leading the group raised a finger to his lips in warning and spoke only when we were no more than a meter apart.

“Nothing good,” he said, giving us a scrutinizing look. He looked to be around forty to forty-five; short, greasy black hair, touched with gray in places, dark, thick eyebrows, and narrow lips. He held a rifle against his chest. “I assume you spent the night in isolation?” And, without waiting for an answer, he continued. “The Northern Plague has spread through the remaining areas and swept the city overnight. There will be no evacuation. Government forces will not come. A safe place should be sought outside the neighborhood on your own.